Andreas Seidel-MorgensternHow Can the Enantiomers of a Chiral Molecule be Separated More Effectively?

Andreas Seidel-Morgenstern
How Can the Enantiomers of a Chiral Molecule be Separated More Effectively?

Andreas Seidel-Morgenstern is Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems. He is also Professor of Chemical Process Engineering at the University of Magdeburg. In 2016, he was appointed Vice President of the International Adsorption Society (IAS). In addition, he is also member of several editorial boards, for instance Adsorption and the Chemical Engineering Journal. He has received numerous awards, including the ‘Humanity in Science Award’.

"The Max Planck Society is Germany's most successful research organization. Since its establishment in 1948, no fewer than 18 Nobel laureates have emerged from the ranks of its scientists, putting it on a par with the best and most prestigious research institutions worldwide. The more than 15,000 publications each year in internationally renowned scientific journals are proof of the outstanding research work conducted at Max Planck Institutes – and many of those articles are among the most-cited publications in the relevant field." (Source)

Institute

"In 1998 the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems was established. The institute in Magdeburg is the first institute of the Max Planck Society dedicated to the engineering sciences and is intended to bridge the gap between basic research and industrial applications.

At present 240 employees are working at the institute in Magdeburg. Their main research activities are focused on the analysis and optimization of highly complex processes in chemical and biological engineering, on questions of systems biology and systems theory, and their mathematical foundations, as well as on modern methods of computer simulation for the above mentioned challenges.

The aim is to develop mathematical methods to control and optimize technical systems, to model complex processes in chemical and biological engineering, to analyze the foundations and the dynamics of chemical reaction and separation processes in order to design and optimize modern, efficient and sustainable processes." (Source)

Map

Chiral molecules are molecules that behave as image and mirror image to each other; these are also called enantiomers. There is a demand in pure enantiomers, which can be created for the use of a variety of industries, such as drugs for the pharmaceutical industry or herbicides for agrochemistry. ANDREAS SEIDEL-MORGENSTERN and his research team investigate access to these pure enantiomers. To achieve this, they work on separating the two enantiomers,
complementing alternative approaches devoted to synthesize just one of them. For this, they use racemic mixtures – which contain equal amounts of left- and right-handed enantiomers of a chiral molecule – and then split these racemates. The separation process they managed to develop for this, as is described in this video, allows them to produce larger quantities of pure enantiomers from cheap available mixtures than was possible before. This means that these can now also be produced more effectively in industrial contexts.

LT Video Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10483

Continuous Preferential Crystallization of Chiral Molecules in Single and Coupled Mixed-Suspension Mixed-Product-Removal Crystallizers

Latest Thinking uses cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. To make this site work properly, we sometimes place small data files called cookies on your device. Most big websites do this. If you continue, we assume that you consent to receive cookies from our website.